St. Paul-based Whitecaps announce 16-game hockey schedule

The Whitecaps on Thursday announced the full 16-game schedule for their first season in the National Women's Hockey League. The St. Paul-based team will play eight two-game series on Saturdays and Sundays, with the regular season beginning Oct. 6 and running through March 3.

The Whitecaps will also play several exhibitions against college women's teams.

The longtime independent franchise became the fifth member of the NWHL in May when the league acquired the team. It will play its eight home games at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, built as the new practice facility for the Wild, and will open the season with a two-game set against the Metropolitan Riveters on Oct. 6-7. Other home weekends are Oct. 27-28 (Buffalo), Dec. 1-2 (Boston) and Jan. 19-20 (Connecticut).

Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Road games are Oct. 20-21 (Riveters), Dec. 29-30 (Buffalo), Jan. 12-13 (Boston and Connecticut) and March 2-3 (Boston/Connecticut.) The series at Buffalo includes a Saturday NWHL-NHL doubleheader. The Beauts' brother franchise, the Buffalo Sabres, will play Boston following the Beauts-Whitecaps game at KeyBank Center.

• The Whitecaps signed Olympic gold medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield on Thursday, adding a third Olympian to their roster. The forward, who played for the Whitecaps in 2016-17, won the 2016 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award — given to the top player in women's college hockey — following her senior season at Northeastern. She joins fellow Olympians Hannah Brandt and Lee Stecklein on the Whitecaps roster, which also includes former Gophers Amanda Leveille and Kate Schipper.